The Times Square Ball begins its descent at 11:59 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
The ball takes 60 seconds to travel down the pole on One Times Square, reaching the bottom precisely at midnight. That carefully timed descent creates the visual countdown familiar from television broadcasts and from the crowds gathered in Manhattan. The ball's movement is controlled so that the final moment aligns with the start of January 1.
The descent should not be confused with the moment of the new year itself: the ball starts one minute earlier and finishes when the clock reaches midnight. The event's timing has been standardized around the final minute of December 31, although the ball's design, lighting technology, and broadcast presentation have changed repeatedly. The celebration was suspended as a public illuminated event during the World War II blackout years of 1942 and 1943. Today, the descending ball is the central symbol of the Times Square ceremony, alongside confetti, music, and the midnight kiss tradition.